Rights activists condemn Hazara killings

Human rights groups have urged the government to prevent killings of members of the Hazara community in western Balochistan province.

â€śGroups of Muslims are being singled out as minorities and persecuted. Terrorists are not the only ones to blame; the whole nation is involvedâ€ť, said I. A. Rehman, director of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP).

Unknown armed assailants ambushed a local bus and murdered 14 people belonging to the Hazara community of Shi'ite Muslims and injured six others on October 4 in Quetta, where gunmen shot dead 26 Shia pilgrims traveling to Iran two weeks ago.

Zohra Yusuf, chair of HRCP, called upon countryâ€™s executives to take immediate, direct and personal action against the â€śmost heinous nature of the recent wave of Hazarasâ€™ killingâ€ť in her October 5 press statement.

â€śThese killings must cause your government serious anxiety for a number of reasons. The failure of the administration to stem the odious tide or to apprehend the culprits reveal a state of lawlessness no civilized government can countenance.â€ť

She demanded action against those who forfeited their right to hold their positions and failed to fulfil their duty to protect peopleâ€™s lives in Balochistan. â€śAll of them should be made to pay for their incompetence and insensitivity to the killing of innocent citizens and the sufferings of their families.â€ť

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, which has strong ties with the al-Qaeda and Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, claimed responsibility for the massacre. Media reports say 422 Hazaras have been killed in Balochistan alone since 1999. There are about half a million members of the Persian speaking Hazara community in the country